Stories from the field

Christina Magro

As both an American and French citizen growing up in a bi-cultural household in New York, Christina has been intellectually engaged and excited by foreign cultures throughout her life. She studied abroad in Beijing and London, worked as a tourist agent in Paris, and has travelled extensively to both developed and developing countries including India and Vietnam. After graduating from Hamilton College with a B.A. in Chinese and Art History, she worked for an entrepreneurial advertising company where she gained a holistic understanding of the business by adapting to various roles, most recently as their Director of Marketing. Her post college exposure to business and her passion for international development led to a growing interest in development economics and is inspiring a career transition. She believes microfinance, in particular, is a sustainable and scalable tool to empower individuals and help alleviate poverty. She is honored to support Kiva’s enduring commitment to financial inclusion in Nicaragua by connecting lenders directly with borrowers in underserved communities.

Fellows Blog Posts by Christina Magro

To foreigners, Peruvians, and many Limeños alike, San Juan de Lurigancho is merely an underdeveloped, overcrowded, and unsafe district nestled into one of the peaks on Lima’s perimeter, called el cerro San Cristobal. Their exposure to the district is often limited to glimpsing its distant multi-colored homes from the center of Lima or driving through the area in order to reach the summit’s iconic cross, la Cruz del Cerro San Cristobal, where panoramic views of the city await.... Continue Reading >>

Loan officers are ambassadors in their communities; they are the liaisons between their employers, the Microfinance Institutes, and the borrowers. They are responsible for identifying responsible clients, ensuring they repay their loans on time, and fostering ongoing relationships with them. Inevitably, they are most in tune with the borrower’s behaviors and needs, which makes their work invaluable to the MFI’s performance.
It’s tough work. Pana Pana, the new MFI partner I work with in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region of Nicaragua, has 11 loan officers currently serving 2,378... Continue Reading >>

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